Woman whose nose was bitten off by her husband says he did it because he loved her

Woman subjected to years of abuse by violent husband takes him back after new partner dies of heart attack – then weeks later he bites off her nose in a savage attackJealous Nick would hold Lynne Gough's eyes open at night and pour water on her face to force her to confess to imagined affairsLynne finally leaves Nick after enduring abuse over 24 year marriageBeloved new partner Chris dies suddenly of heart attack after just one yearNick begs Lynne to return – only to savage her face in a jealous rage

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UPDATED:

18:33 GMT, 26 July 2012

A woman whose abusive husband bit off her nose in a rage has spoken out about the horror of being trapped in a violent relationship.

Lynne Gough told how her husband Nick punched her violently in the face for half an hour until it was so numb that when he then bit her, she didn't realise that he had bitten off her nose.

Speaking to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on This Morning, Lynne said the savage attack – that left her needing hours of reconstructive surgery – was the culmination of many years of systematic abuse.

Savaged: Lynne Gough suffered years of abuse at the hands of her husband of 24 years until it culminated with him biting off her nose in a jealous rage

'I remember it all like it was yesterday,' she said. 'He'd been punching me in the face that much I was numb.

'Then he attacked with his teeth – and I didn't realise until afterwards that he'd actually bitten off my nose.'

Lynne, who had been married to Nick for 24 years and had six children with him, said she had only recently reunited with her former husband after leaving him for another man after years of abuse and aggressive behaviour drove her out of the marital home.

'Nick was always a bully and very controlling,' she said. 'He would run at me with fists but would never land a punch. Or he'd run at me with a knife.

Lynne's nose had to be reattached during hours of reconstructive surgery

When I burst into tears, he would say “I'm just trying to scare you”.

'On that day, when he brought his fist back I didn't think it would actually land. But it did – and it went on landing for half an hour before he finally bit off my nose.'

Lynne says that Nick had always been a very jealous man – something that at the beginning of their relationship she found flattering.

However, his jealousy and possessiveness soon transformed into a dangerous rage that he would unleash on Lynne without warning.

'I found work in a care home and after a few years became a manager. He hated the fact that I had freedom. He wanted me at home the whole time,' Lynne says.

'He would wait for me at the front door and accuse me of having affairs with people at work.

Lynne says the jealousy began in earnest when she had her first child with Nick.

'Even in the hospital on the day our baby was born he accused me of having affair with one of the members of staff.

'Then after that it was anyone. If I went shopping it was someone I'd meet on the street, or people at the children's school.

'He'd even question me if my underwear matched.'

'When we were young and in love I thought it was flattering. But when I went out to work it got worse.

'Neither of us had any friends,' she says. 'I wasn't allowed to socialise. One day at the pub a man kissed me on the cheek. Nick accused me of having an affair with him, even though we'd only met half an hour earlier.

'That night when we got home, he started drinking more and got really aggressive and abusive.'

Shockingly, Lynne reveals that Nick would subject her to what he called 'Chinese Water Torture' at nights – splashing water on her face and straddling her, holding her eyes open – in an attempt to force her to admit to affairs.

Yet still she could not leave him, saying that she loved him so much, she 'put up with it'.

'I loved him. We had children together. I was a mother. I wanted to put my children first. But you can only stand so much.'

'I loved him': Lynne says she couldn't bring herself to leave Nick, right – the husband she adored – despite the horrific abuse she endured at his hands

During this time, Lynne became friendly with a fellow manager at the care home where she worked. Chris had recently gone through a divorce from his wife and noticed that Lynne appeared tired and stressed.

She confided in him that Nick was keeping her awake at night with his twisted form of questioning.

Eventually, after years of abuse, Lynne decided to leave her husband and move in with Chris.

But less than a year later in 2006, Chris died suddenly of a heart attack.

'We'd gone to the gym together, then I'd popped out to get some food,' she says. 'When I came back, I heard Chris say “Lynne” very calmly. Then I went upstairs and I saw him fall to the floor.

'I started mouth to mouth and heart massage but I couldn't bring him back. An ambulance took him to the hospital but he was dead on arrival.

'It was a massive loss in my life,' she says.

A year after Chris's death, Nick contacted his ex-wife and asked her to come back to him.

'Chris had only been dead a year when Nick phoned me,' she says. 'He begged me to take him back, promising that he had changed and learned his lesson.'

Miracle: Lynne told Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on This Morning that she has nothing but praise for the doctors who rebuilt her face

Foolishly Lynne believed him, and she went back the husband who had already subjected her to years of terror.

'It was fine inititally, but soon got worse than ever,' she says.

'The day he attacked me would have been Chris's 47th birthday, so I was obviously emotional, but I carried on as usual. I called Nick at work, told him I loved him and told him what we'd have for tea.

'He noticed when he came home that I'd been crying. I didn't want to tell him, but he persisted until I admitted it would have been Chris's birthday.

'I could see a change in his eyes. He wasn't happy at all. I took the dog for a walk to try to calm the situation down. When I came back I went out into the back garden. He came out and that's when he started to attack me,' she says.

Lynne, who has now had her face fully rebuilt, said the doctors worked miracles with reconstructive surgery.

'The doctors did an amazing job rebuilding it,' she said. 'They slit down the centre of my nose and pulled my forehead down to cover it.

'The first time it didn't work and had to be taken back off, but now it's reattached and works normally – I can still smell.'